


'Til Death Do Us Part

by Jmax523



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Protection, Rescue, Rivalry, Self-Defense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26778454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jmax523/pseuds/Jmax523
Summary: The best rivals are the ones that save your life because they didn't get to kill you themselves. The Forbidden Forest is full of things trying to kill you, but only time, and your questionable taste in investigation parters, will tell if they succeed.
Relationships: Player Character/Merula Snyde
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	'Til Death Do Us Part

**Author's Note:**

> (SPOILERS FOR YEAR 4, CHAPTER 6 OF HOGWARTS MYSTERY. THIS STORY DOES REFERENCE CANON ELEMENTS OF THE GAME'S STORY, EVEN IF THE STORY ITSELF IS NOT.)

“I’ll go with Merula, there’s no possible way it could go wrong!” You mock yourself as you walk through the dark, foreboding maze of foliage that is the Forbidden Forest. After a few minutes of walking, you eventually come across Merula sitting on the root of a massive tree, looking out into the forest, away from you.

“Merula!” You yell, grabbing her shoulders from behind. Merula shrieks, falling off the branch and whirling around, pointing her wand at you, and shooting you a withering glare as she recognizes you. 

“You utter-” Merula clambers up off the ground and punches you in the stomach as you laugh, knocking the wind out of you for a moment. 

“It was too perfect,” You wheeze as you regain your breath, “I apologize for nothing.”.

“I can’t believe I agreed to do this,” she huffs, “Wandering the forest with you, looking for a centaur camp in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.”.

“Hey, don’t be too down,” You grin, “There’s always the chance that something tries to kill us.”.

“That does give me a little hope,” Merula glares at you, “Maybe you’ll die out here, and I never have to put up with you again.”.

“Regardless, we should get looking,” You draw your wand, scanning the forest surrounding you.

“That’s the most sense I’ve ever heard out of you,” Merula snipes, “We can’t just walk up to the camp so we’ll need to be… careful…” Merula trails off at the end of her sentence.

“Scared already, Merula?” You turn to face her and see that she’s looking at something around a tree, and you make your way over to look, “Or are you…”.

As you make your way around, you spot a centaur, glaring at Merula, their bow drawn and an arrow aimed at Merula’s chest.

Quickly, you stow your wand, stepping in between Merula and the centaur, raising one hand to the centaur, and hanging the other one down by your side, gesturing for Merula to stay back. 

“Woah, Woah, calm down, let me explain…” You start, but the centaur turns their bow and their gaze to you, and you immediately lose your voice.

“You are trespassing,” The centaur states, and draws back the arrow nocked in their bow, “What are two students doing out in the forest so late at night?”.

You notice Merula subtly step closer behind you, and glancing back for just a moment, the usual anger and general contempt you’re used to seeing on Merula has vanished, replaced by something else.

Fear. As soon as you see the sheer terror in her eyes, you turn back to face the centaur, your own heart practically pounding out of your chest.

“Would you believe me if I said nothing?” You attempt to joke, a desperate attempt to calm your nerves, and the centaur glares at you.

“No.” The centaur bitterly states, and you slowly start to try and reach for your wand, “Look, just let us by, we’re not looking for any trou-”.

Your sentence is cut off as you spot the fingers the centaur had closed around the tail of the arrow open, and you jerk to the side at just the last second, the arrow cutting a line of blood across your cheek.

“Then you should not have come here,” The centaur answers angrily.

“Merula, get back!” You shout, drawing your wand with one hand and shoving Merula towards a nearby tree with the other.

“Fine, if you won’t move,” You turn back to the centaur, stepping into your dueling stance, “I’ll make you.”.

The centaur readies another arrow, now far faster than before, and you leap to the side just a second too late, the arrow grazing the side of your torso, sending a flash of pain throughout your body. 

_“Depulso!”_ You shout, and the charm sends the centaur flying backward before they quickly stand back up, their glare now having gone from angry to furious.

Nocking another arrow, the centaur charges you, and you notice a root in the ground, protruding from the ground right in front of the centaur’s path to you.

 _“Incendio!”_ The root bursts into flame, and the centaur is forced to stop their charge before they can reach you, now barred by a wall of fire.

Before you have time to regain your bearings, you notice a small movement from the opposite side of the flames.

Suddenly, your shoulder feels like it exploded, the impact of an unseen projectile knocking you to your back, and you look over to see your shoulder bleeding profusely from where the shaft of an arrow sticks out, the arrowhead not at all visible.

Your vision starts to dull, and you can see the flames guarding you against the centaur slowly die down, and you can feel the ground below you vibrate as the centaur charges you again.

 _“Flipendo!”_ You hear Merula’s voice, and see a flash of yellow light as the centaur is blown backward.

“Nonono…” Through your dulled vision, you can see Merula leaning over you, “Hold on, (l/n), this might hurt a little.”.

You can make out Merula’s hand closing around near where the arrow meets your shoulder, and before you can even attempt to protest, the feeling of your entire shoulder being torn away consumes your brain as Merula rips out the arrow from your shoulder.

Your shoulder starts to bleed far more aggressively, and your sight becomes nothing but dark shapes and indistinguishable blobs, and your eyelids grow heavy.

 _“V..l...a Sa...t..r.”_ You can barely make out a voice through the rushing in your ears. 

The now dulled pain in your shoulder starters to fade, and your sight slowly returns. The rushing in your ears quiets, and you feel strength creep back into your muscles, though the sharp pain in your shoulder is still impossible to ignore.

As your vision returns, you sit up and are almost knocked back over by Merula immediately wrapping her arms around you.

“Oh thank Merlin!” You notice Merula’s voice is shaky and hoarse, but you can’t really make a note of it, as you look over at your shoulder to see the wounded flesh knit itself together, spitting out a small stone arrowhead.

“That’s new…” You mutter, trying to shake some sense back into your head as you stand back up, looking over at the slowly rising centaur across from you.

“I don’t want to keep fighting you,” you plead with the centaur, who narrows their eyes at you.

“Then return the arrow your brother stole from me,” the centaur demands, and you quickly reach for the broken arrow you found in the last Cursed Vault. 

“This arrow?” You offer, and the centaur approaches, taking the arrow out of your hand and examining it.

“Where is the arrowhead? This arrow had a gemstone head when your brother took it from my herd.”.

You shrug, “I’d tell you if I knew, I found the arrow like this in the Vault.”.

“What could this arrow have been doing in a Cursed Vault?” the centaur muses.

“Hey, maybe we can help each other out,” You realize, pointing to the centaur, “Do you know where the Vault in the forest is?”.

The centaur glares at you, “The last time I worked with one of your clan, I was exiled when he turned on us, and my herd blamed me for trusting a human.”. 

“What if I could help you get that arrowhead back?” You ask, and you notice a glint of interest in the centaur’s eyes. 

“Perhaps we may be able to assist each other,” the centaur doesn’t break their gaze on you, and you attempt a friendly smile through the pain in your shoulder.

“I don’t think we ever got your name,” You offer, and the centaur nods, “I am Torvus.”.

“(y/n),” you respond, and Merula pipes up from next to you, “And I’m Merula Snyde.”.

“Careful with this one, Merula Synde,” Torvus warns, “They are from a clan of deceivers.”.

“I’ll keep an eye on them, Torvus,” Merula nods, “We’ll find that arrowhead in no time.”.

Torvus nods and directs his gaze to you again, and you can almost feel his eyes looking through you, before he makes his way back into the dark forest, away from where you and Merula are standing.

As soon as Torvus is out of sight, you drop down, clutching at your still-agonizing shoulder, and your head goes light, whatever spell Merula used obviously not replenishing all the blood you lost.

“(l/n)!” Merula quickly reaches down and brings one of your arms over your shoulder hoisting you back to your feet.

“Come on, (l/n), we’re getting you out of here…” Merula starts to carry you back the way you came until you reach where your brooms landed.

As you pick up your broom and mount it, you feel Merula’s hand on your shoulder.

“Absolutely not, you’re in no condition to fly,” Merula lifts you onto the back of her broom, and you close your arms around her waist, not even attempting to protest. 

With your broom tucked under your arm, you feel your eyelids grow heavy again as you and Merula leave the treeline of the Forbidden Forest behind you.

* * *

You don’t remember landing, nor do you remember passing out, but you feel yourself drift awake, lying on a wooden table, and you can hear Tulip and Merula’s voices nearby. 

“...Couldn’t exactly go to Pomfrey about it, Tulip!”.

“I’ll be honest, I’m surprised you even did this much, Merula Synde,” Tulip notices you sit up, and you realize you’ve been lying down on a table in Jacob’s hideout. 

“You’re awake, (y/n) (l/n)!” Tulip hugs you from where you’re sitting, “Merula Synde says you fought a centaur, but you figured out our next move?”. 

“Merula helped,” You add, “She saved my life, that centaur would’ve killed me if she wasn’t there.”.

“So that was true…” Tulip glances over to Merula, “Penny Haywood is brewing a potion for (y/n) (l/n), I’m going to go get it, keep an eye on them until I get back.”.

Tulip walks out of the room, and you and Merula sit in awkward silence for a few minutes.

“Why did you save me?” You ask, and Merula looks down at the ground, “That’s a good question.”.

“Torvus could have killed me,” you continue, “What happened to having me out of your way?”.

You notice tears welling in Merula’s eyes, but before you can say anything, Merula runs over to the table you’re sitting on and squeezes you in a massive hug.

“I never wanted you out of my way,” Merula mutters into your shoulder, “You’re the only challenge I have anymore, hunting down all the vaults would be too easy without you.”.

“Um, thanks?” You gingerly put your uninjured arm around Merula, “It’s nice to know that I mean something to you, in a weird way…”.

“You don’t get to die until I get you to admit I’m a better Curse-Breaker than you, (l/n),” Merula pulls back, pressing her forehead against yours, staring into your eyes with a cold intensity. 

“Then I guess I’m immortal, Merula,” You stare back, moving your hand up to Merula’s shoulder.

“We’ll see about that,” Merula’s hands slide up to the sides of your head, and you grin, “I guess that means we’ll be seeing more of each other?”.

“You’re never going to be rid of me, (l/n), we both know you can’t live without me,” Merula remarks, and you slide forward on the table, “‘Til death do us part, Snyde.”.

“You’re on,” Merula narrows her eyes at you, a wicked grin spreading across her face.

Suddenly, Tulip walks back through the door to Jacob’s hideout, and Merula shoves you back down to the table, dashing back to where she was standing when Tulip left.

You’re pretty sure Tulip saw something from the look she gives you as she walks over to you, but if she did, she doesn’t say anything. 

“Penny Haywood sends her concern,” Tulip hands you a vial of green liquid, and you gulp down the natural-tasting fluid inside. 

“And Rowan Khanna sends this,” Tulip smacks the back of your head with an open palm, and you nod, “Both are noted.”. 

“So? What did you learn in the forest?” Tulip asks, and you realize you haven’t actually told her yet.

“Right, of course. We need to start looking for the rest of the arrow we found,” You explain, “If we can find the gemstone arrowhead of it, then the centaur we met, Torvus, will lead us to the next vault.”.

“Find a thing to find the thing,” Tulip summarizes, “Figures. I’ll get the others together, and you can tell us more.”.

“And as for you…” Tulip turns to face Merula, “Your help is appreciated, but I’m sure you understand that your presence is no longer necessary.”. Merula rolls her eyes, but doesn’t protest as she turns to leave the room.

Quickly, you push yourself off the table as Merula leaves, putting a hand on her shoulder when you catch up outside of Jacob’s room.

“What, (l/n)?” Merula huffs, and you roll your eyes back at her, “I wanted to thank you for the save back in the forest.”.

“I already regret it,” Merula answers, and you shake your head, “I’m serious, I would’ve died out there if you hadn’t stepped in. I know that we’re not exactly on friendly terms, but if something happens, you know where to find me.”.

You expect another jeer, but instead, Merula looks you up and down, like you’re a passage written in a barely legible script.

“You’re welcome,” Merula answers, putting her arms around your neck, “And… thanks.”.

“I owe you, don’t I?” You joke, and Merula nods.

“Yeah, big-time… Oh, and (l/n)?” Merula flashes another crooked smile, and you raise an eyebrow, “What?”.

“You left yourself open.”.

You feel Merula’s knee impact with your stomach, and when you bend down holding your ribs, Merula laughs, leaning down to you.

“‘Til death do us part, (l/n).”.

Merula strides away as you stand back up, and you turn and step back into Jacob’s room. Maybe having Merula around isn’t all bad, you say to yourself, but next time, you’re just bringing Rowan.

**Author's Note:**

> Tried something new with this one, actually using a bit from the game to write a story around. The game gave me a choice in who to bring to the forest, and y'all get three guesses who I chose as soon as I saw their name. As always, thanks for reading! (As well as a more personal thanks to the amazing JuniperTrees for throwing me down this rabbit hole, go check out their stuff if you like mine, it's like my stuff, but better!)


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